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130 The Remodeled Carolina The steamer Carolina, of the New York & Porto Rico Steamship Line, arrived in the port of New York from Newport News, Va., on the afternoon of March 2, in many respects a new ship, having been reconstructed by the Newport News Ship Building & Dry Dock Co. during the past nine and a half months from plans and specifications prepared by Theodore E. Ferris, naval architect and marine en- gineer of New York City, in collabor- ation with Franklin D. Mooney, vice president and general manager, New York & Porto Rico Steamship Co., the reconstruction work having been carried on under the supervision of Mr. Ferris. It will be recalled that the Carolina was. originally the Grand Duchess, built for the Plant Line as a twin screw freight and passenger ship; later owned by the Savannah Line: and named City of Savannah. Following this she became the property of the New York & Porto Rico Steamship Co. and was named the Carolina. Previous to her reconstruction, she was operated on the Porto Rico Line for a number of years, not being wholly successful, however, many re- pairs having been necessary on each and every voyage of the ship to keep the vessel operating, the boilers being deficient and used up. The propulsive efficiency of the vessel had always been deficient and inadequate because of an abnormal bossing out condition about the stern in the original construc- tion of the ship for the twin screw ar- THE MARINE REVIEW rangement. The time having come because of re-boilering the ship, renew- ing tank .top in boiler space and other miscellaneous work necessary, it was decided. after several conferences of the board of directors, headed by Mr. Mooney, at the recommendation of Mr. Ferris, to rebuild the ship, not only to make her efficient in regard to speed and economical amount of horsepower, but in return increase her running powers as regards increased dead weight cargo capacity and cubic capacity, reduction in crew and in- creased passenger accommodations. - Alterations Determined Upon After a thorough survey of the hull of the ship was made, the result be- ing that the condition of the hull was ELE, RECONSTRUCTED CAROLINA found to be excellent, there having been practically no deterioration, plans and specifications were prepared and contract was placed with the Newport News Ship Building & Dry Dock Co. for reconstruction of the ship, chang- ing her from twin screw to single screw, installing new boilers, new en- gines and auxiliaries, the work of rep- resenting probably the most intricate and largest rebuilding proposition on any ship done in this country, reflect- ing great credit on the part of the owners in undertaking such a proposi- tion, which hag resulted in now mak- ing this vessel a complete commercial success. The Carolina before being altered to single screw ship had about 7,000 col- lective I. H. P. twin screw quadruple expansion engines, two 16-ft. diame- April, 1914 ter double-ended boilers and two 16-ft. diameter single-ended boilers, fitted with forced draft. Her speed on the Porto Rico route was nominally 13y¥ knots; vibration, steering and handling qualities of the ship not good. The altered single screw arrange- ment consists of one triple-expansion engine and cylinders, 31 in.-x 50 in. x 84 in., and a common stroke of 54 in. four single-ended boilers, 16 ft. in diameter, with I. H. P. of 4,000, which will give her a speed of 14% knots on the Porto Rico route. On her sea trial on the trip from Newport News to New York, with 1,100 tons of wa- ter ballast and coal, the ship developed on a four-hour run a speed of 16% knots; there was little or no vibration; the ship steered and handled perfectly and showed abnormal sea qualities in the snowstorm and gale off the Atlan- tic coast on the night of March 1, which storm delayed a number of in- coming trans-Atlantic vessels. Reconstructing the Vessel In the process of reconstructing this ship there has been gained, including actual weight of ship due to reduction in weight of propelling machinery, re- duction in bunkers and boiler feed wa- ter, about 1,000 tons in dead weight, 35 per cent in cargo cubic capacity and quite an increase in passenger ac- commodations, number of staterooms, suite rooms, private baths, etc., re- duction in engine department crew and a vast reduction in coal consumption, all principally because of the ship's original abnormal condition at the